People work for many reasons. One is to ensure that their needs and wants are met. People often receive a financial payment for their efforts. This allows them, in turn, to purchase goods and services from others. Another form of payment may simply be satisfaction in a job well done. Yet another is the good feelings one gets in helping others, particularly when doing volunteer work.  

What Primary Sources Can Tell Us about Work

Primary sources can tell us many things about the economy – and jobs – of a culture or time period.

• Written forms – Bills, receipts, ledgers, check stubs, price tags, and coupons can give us an idea of what things cost, and what people have been paid to do certain jobs.
• Physical artifacts – Goods are items that people are able to buy. Coins and bills are two forms of currency that people use in different places around the world. The uniforms and equipment that people use on their jobs often tell us something about their professions.
• Images – Illustrations and photographs often show the occupations that people hold. Advertisements allow us to see how things are sold or promoted.

 Primary Sources 

1960 Postage Stamp Commemorating the Pony Express

The 1960 stamp honoring the 100th anniversary of the Pony Express

Envelope, letter, stamp

The United States Postal Service issues many different kinds of stamps. Commemorative stamps are larger and more colorful than regular stamps and are sold for a limited time. They are created to honor famous Americans or special events in American history, such as the Pony Express. That event was honored both in 1940 (for its 80th anniversary) and in 1960 (for its 100th anniversary) with a U.S. commemorative stamp. See the U.S. Postal Service’s website listing Stamp Issues. See also the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibit, The Art of the Stamp.

Person riding a horse

 

 Background Information 

The Pony Express

With the immediate gratification that e-mail and the Internet have brought, it is hard to imagine a time when a piece of mail could take as long as three weeks to get from sender to receiver. But that was the case on April 3, 1860, when Johnny Fry, a west coast rider on the Pony Express left Saint Joseph, Missouri, heading for Sacramento, California. The ride—not quite 2,000 miles across prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains—was completed in a mere ten days—no small feat at that time.

Sixteen months later, however, the Pony Express was no longer needed. By then transcontinental telegraph lines had reached San Francisco. Messages could be sent much faster, and without horses or much physical effort! Soon there would be a newly completed transcontinental railroad chugging across the nation that carried mail, newspapers, and magazines back and forth. This new technology connected distant points of America in ways the Pony Express never could. During its heyday, however, the Pony Express kept Californians apprised of important events taking place back east, site of the nation’s government and where most people still lived—such as the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Though short-lived, the Pony Express captured peoples’ imaginations.

 

 Classroom Activity 

Celebrating Community Workers

1. Distribute a copy of the 1960 Postage Stamp Commemorating the Pony Express to each child. (This can also be found on page 12 of your Primary Sources Handbook.) Share with the children some of the history of the Pony Express service. After telling the children that teenagers were often hired to be Pony Express riders, discuss how it might have felt to have that job. If you would like, extend the discussion by using questions like these:

• What kinds of dangers do you think these riders may have faced on their journeys?
• In what ways was the job of the Pony Express riders similar to that of mail carriers today? What are some differences between these two jobs?
• What kinds of people do you think made the best Pony Express riders? If it had been your job to hire Pony Express riders, what traits or abilities would you have looked for in the people you hired?
• The Pony Express only lasted sixteen months—a little over a year—and that was almost 150 years ago. Why do you think the Pony Express riders are still celebrated today?

2. Brainstorm with the children examples of jobs that people do that help to make the world a better place. If you like, challenge the children to focus on those that they feel tend to go underappreciated. For ideas, suggest that the children flip through Unit 5 of their textbook. (Examples of jobs they may mention include teachers, parents, carpenters, farmers, veterinarians, crossing guards, artists, fire fighters, sanitation and custodial workers,.)

3. Distribute art supplies (crayons, markers, and drawing paper). If possible, use a pair of pinking shears to give the paper’s edges a pattern similar to those found on postage stamps. Then invite the children to select an occupation to celebrate by designing their own stamp dedicated to the people in that profession.

4. To extend the lesson, consider holding a career day in your classroom. Invite a range of community workers to the classroom to discuss what they do. Once you know who will be coming, have the children create a “commemorative stamp” to present to each speaker.